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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

STL 250 Cake Quest - Grant's Farm

I know I went to Grant's Farm as a kid because I've seen pictures of me feeding the goats, however, I have no memory of being there. I am so glad that the STL 250 Cake Quest led us to Grant's Farm because we had the BEST day!

TIP #1: Go early. I should mention that this was our 2nd attempt at going to Grant's Farm. We showed up around 10am on a Saturday morning thinking we'd waltz right in. Not even close. In the summer months and especially on the weekends you need to get there right when the park opens if you don't want to wait in line for an hour. We got to Grant's Farm 15 minutes before it opened and we were not the first ones in line. We did, however, make it on the first tram into the park which was key.TIP #2:Bring your wallet. As my friend, Erin, pointed out: This attraction is one of the most expensive "free" attractions that St. Louis has to offer. You have to pay to park, pay for milk to feed the goats, pay to feed the birds, pay for the carousel ride, pay for the camel rides, pay for food and (non-alcoholic) drinks, pay to ride the paddleboats. If you are trying to cut back on costs, bring your own food or come on $1 hot dog days on Wednesdays. I also found a $5 off parking coupon too. Click here to print a parking coupon.

Now for the fun stuff!

I was surprised that I didn't know that Grant's Farm is named after Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the US. He was gifted the land that Grant's Farm sits on by his in-laws and built a two-story log cabin (chopped the wood and everything) for him and his wife, Julia Dent, to live on. He recruited some friends to help and the cabin was built in 3 days! They named the cabin "Hardscrabble" referring to the harsh and difficult conditions because of poverty. You can see the log cabin on the tram ride.

The tram ride is great (and one of the few free activities)! Everyone has to ride the tram to get into and out of the park. We saw cattle, deer, geese and horses from the tram.

When we got into the park, we first fed the goats. Clara LOVED it! I wish I could figure out how to upload the video to Blogger, but no such luck. {Help, please?} You might be able to click here to see it.

Sidney didn't enjoy the goats at all so as a consolation prize, we rode the carousel.

{Can you tell I discovered a new collage maker!?!? It's piZap and I love it!}

Next we went to feed the birds. Sidney took one look at all those people trapped in a giant bird cage with birds flying all over the place and said "Hell NO!" Well, she's 4 so she probably just made a sad, nervous face and I got the message. I asked Clara if she wanted to go feed the birds and she was practically scaling the bird cage trying to get in.

We walked around the park and saw the animals and then we went to have lunch in the Bauernhof, which is where the cake is located. This is also where you catch the tram to head back to the parking lot.

During the tram ride back to the parking lot, we learned that the Clydesdale stables are at the back of the parking lot.

There sure was a lot to see and do. We didn't get to see the Animal Encounters show or ride a camel. Guess we'll have to save up for another trip!

PS - Click here if you want to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.